I haven’t had much chance to write my blog just recently, being a teacher of year 11 GCSE pupils at the end of their course and finding time to actually spare for anything else is quite a task. However, I'm pleased despite my lack of time I haven’t let it affect my training.
After Blyth I knew I wanted a bit of a break. I had given myself so much of a hard time to ensure I managed to get the sub 50 that I just wanted to enjoy running and training for a while. I did the North Tyneside but never went for a time I just ran comfortably, and still I managed 50:21. So I knew it was time to focus again and set myself another target, the target was to be the Blaydon race.
I figured if I gave myself a bit of a gap from racing then it would be easier to measure the improvement and still enjoy the training without disappointment and pressure. The sessions in the middle group had been going very well and it became more and more common for me to see 7:20 pace on my watch as I was training. It was quite hard at times as the 3 other people who usually run with me at that pace in my group (the bottom ability of the middle group if you get me!) were taking a break from training, 2 injured and one a new dad! So I was kind of a Billy no mates in training for some time, running the best I could off the back of the group. A lot of the time I felt a bit disheartened being at the back, even though I knew my times were good I had no one to play with and work off, But I persevered and carried on.
The week leading up to Blaydon I was on school holidays and all I wanted to do was just run but I knew I had to be sensible with my running and had to stick to a plan rather than just knocking out the miles and not thinking in advance. The Tuesday and the Thursday prior to Blaydon I did 2 short runs. One was 4 mile and the other 3 miles, both at which I clocked a surprising 7:40 pace which was kind of unheard of for me as my general running with no effort/plodding along pace is about 8:25. So I knew I was in ok shape and that Saturday could be a good day!
I figured if I gave myself a bit of a gap from racing then it would be easier to measure the improvement and still enjoy the training without disappointment and pressure. The sessions in the middle group had been going very well and it became more and more common for me to see 7:20 pace on my watch as I was training. It was quite hard at times as the 3 other people who usually run with me at that pace in my group (the bottom ability of the middle group if you get me!) were taking a break from training, 2 injured and one a new dad! So I was kind of a Billy no mates in training for some time, running the best I could off the back of the group. A lot of the time I felt a bit disheartened being at the back, even though I knew my times were good I had no one to play with and work off, But I persevered and carried on.
The week leading up to Blaydon I was on school holidays and all I wanted to do was just run but I knew I had to be sensible with my running and had to stick to a plan rather than just knocking out the miles and not thinking in advance. The Tuesday and the Thursday prior to Blaydon I did 2 short runs. One was 4 mile and the other 3 miles, both at which I clocked a surprising 7:40 pace which was kind of unheard of for me as my general running with no effort/plodding along pace is about 8:25. So I knew I was in ok shape and that Saturday could be a good day!
With Bill McGuirk before the start
The Blaydon Race… possibly one of the best race days in the North East and the excitement at Wallsend Harriers was evident with the constant good luck messages on facebook. I was very excited also and surprisingly didn’t really feel the pressure like the 10k at Blyth.
After the mass crowd squeezing together at the start the anticipation was distracted by the big black gloomy cloud that was hanging over the toon. I heard the bell and we were away, only seconds after the bell came the rain. I decided that my game plan for the race was to run as fast as I felt comfortable and not to clock watch. If I knew my splits I would be assessing them and this time I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to run my own race at my own pace and see what happened. At Blyth I was paced, so this time the aim was to pace myself. I knew I had done a fast mile for the first one but I felt good and I didn’t let it distract me. As we approached the Scotswood road the rain was lashing down! It was like a monsoon! I haven’t seen rain like that in a long time, there was a river practically flowing down the road! The weird thing is as well is that even though it was lashing down it was very quiet and all you could hear was the squelching of runners soggy wet trainers! It certainly kept me distracted for the best part of 3 miles!
Getting wet!
When I approached the Scotswood Bridge I was tiring but I kept on pushing as I knew I had done so well in the first part I had to keep on and not give up. I was also motivated by the fact I was within visible distance from couple of other runners from my training group who are much better than me. So I wasn’t entirely sure whether they were having a bad run or I was having a good one! But I saw it as motivation and used it to my advantage.
I knew that they had changed the end of the race but wasn’t exactly sure how. By the time I had come off the Blaydon bypass my trainers were that wet they felt like lead and my legs were tiring. I knew I had dropped my pace but did all I could to pick it up knowing the end was near. As I saw the finish approaching the road turned to grass, well mud! It was like the end of bad cross country! My sprint finish must have looked very interesting that’s all I can say! As I crossed the line I wiped the rain out of my eyes (thankfully no mascara as I had anticipated the rain and never wore any unlike previous years!) and saw 43:51 staring me in the face! I had to stop a man at the side of me and ask him if that time was right. In good old Geordie style he politely said, “Why aye lass you’ve just ran 43 minutes”. I was gob smacked! Last year I ran 49:50, that was 6 minutes off my time. Now I know the course was 0.15 shorter than last year’s course but that didn’t equate to 6 minutes so I was and still am one happy runner.
After checking out my Garmin I found I had ran the splits in 7:18, 7:27, 7:25, 8:03, 8:08 and 7:50. I was over the moon with my consistency down the Scotswood road; I knew Kev my coach would be proud.
After the race I collected my totally drenched bag and boarded the bus back to town. After a dry down in the toilets of Witherspoons it was the post race gathering of my club. Now the best part about being a member of Wallsend Harriers is the support and the club spirit. Everyone was chuffed with everyone’s times, times ranging from 27 minutes to 57 minutes! It’s always fantastic to listen to everyone’s tales of how they conquered the race and the conditions.
I knew that they had changed the end of the race but wasn’t exactly sure how. By the time I had come off the Blaydon bypass my trainers were that wet they felt like lead and my legs were tiring. I knew I had dropped my pace but did all I could to pick it up knowing the end was near. As I saw the finish approaching the road turned to grass, well mud! It was like the end of bad cross country! My sprint finish must have looked very interesting that’s all I can say! As I crossed the line I wiped the rain out of my eyes (thankfully no mascara as I had anticipated the rain and never wore any unlike previous years!) and saw 43:51 staring me in the face! I had to stop a man at the side of me and ask him if that time was right. In good old Geordie style he politely said, “Why aye lass you’ve just ran 43 minutes”. I was gob smacked! Last year I ran 49:50, that was 6 minutes off my time. Now I know the course was 0.15 shorter than last year’s course but that didn’t equate to 6 minutes so I was and still am one happy runner.
After checking out my Garmin I found I had ran the splits in 7:18, 7:27, 7:25, 8:03, 8:08 and 7:50. I was over the moon with my consistency down the Scotswood road; I knew Kev my coach would be proud.
After the race I collected my totally drenched bag and boarded the bus back to town. After a dry down in the toilets of Witherspoons it was the post race gathering of my club. Now the best part about being a member of Wallsend Harriers is the support and the club spirit. Everyone was chuffed with everyone’s times, times ranging from 27 minutes to 57 minutes! It’s always fantastic to listen to everyone’s tales of how they conquered the race and the conditions.
All in all the Blaydon was better than I had ever imagined and my time I could have only dreamed of. Now I move onto my next challenge. As of yet I'm sure, im toying with the idea of the Elloughton 10k in Hull later this summer which is very flat and apparently good for PB’s and maybe the Redcar half marathon in September. Either way the training is to continue and hopefully next time I blog I will be delivering some more tales of my PB.s.
But for now…
Over and Oot!
But for now…
Over and Oot!